Fending Off Winter

As long as there is some sun, I am fine, but come the gray days of winter, I am hit with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Then I need exercise desperately.  When I can't get outside to take my long walks, one would think I would spend the days writing, but SAD doesn't work that way.  My brain turns to oatmeal and not even a nice flavor.  Bland, meaningless mush.  Those are the days I watch television during the day.

So far, we've had a mild winter.  I've been able to get out quite a bit.  Today, I managed to walk two miles around town and later in Appleton.  Tomorrow and the next day, we can expect sunny warm weather, so my intention is to walk four miles each day.

The problem is February.  That month in Wisconsin is snowy and gray.  Twenty eight days seems like fifty.  I dread that extra leap year day. I count down the days until the equinox for my friends on Facebook. There are 51 days to go.

I fight depression with a light board and St. John's wort.  When SAD starts gripping me, I start planning for spring and summer.

Today, Gary and I completed our sturgeon guard forms.  Between mid-April and early May, Gary and I will spend a night or two guarding the giant fish as they spawn along the banks of the Wolf River.  We will be assigned and area next to the rocks put in place by the Department of Natural Resources.  The "ladies" will thrash against the rocks and the males will thrash against the females to fertilize the eggs.  It is a wild orgy as we sit the night through watching them to protect them from human predators who would like to take them for the caviar.   This is our first camping trip of the season.

Around the same time, I will get up on a Saturday morning to go out to a field at the border of Waupaca and Outagamie for the annual Midwest Crane Count. 

 We keep planning camping trips.  Gary builds things he thinks we need.  The UPS truck pulls up bringing gadgets that he deems necessary for survival in the wilderness.

On March 3, Gary and I will go to a Bill Staines concert, when the folksinger comes through Wisconsin on his annual tour.  We've done this for decades.  

Then comes St. Patrick's Day, which is also my birthday.  From then on, spring is unstoppable and SAD is put to rest for another year.